
ALABAMA HISTOEICAL SOCIETY; 



ORGANIZED AT TUSKALOOSA, 



JULY 8TH, 1850. 




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TUSKALOOSA: 
PELTED BY M. D. J. SLADE. 



1850. 



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CONSTITUTION 



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ALABAMA HISTOEICAL SOCIETY; 



OKGAKIZED AT TUSKALOOSA, 



JULY 8IH, 1850. 



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TUSKALOOSA: 
PRINTED BY M. D. J. SLADE. 



1850. 



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OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 



ALEXANDER BOWIE, President. 

A. J. PICKETT, 1st Vice President. 
E. D. KING, 2d Vice President. 

W. MOODY, Treasurer. 
JOSHUA H. FOSTER, Secretary. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

J. J. ORMOND. 

B. MANLY. 
M. TUOMEY. 

L. C. GARLAND. 
N. H. COBBS. 



CONSTITUTION. 

1. The name of this Society is " The Alabama Historical 
Society. " 

2. The object of the Society is to discover, procure, preserve 
and diffuse whatever may rehite to the natural, civil, literary 
and ecclesiastical history of the State of Alabama, and of the 
States in connection with her. 

3. The Society shall consist of Resident and Corresponding 
Members. Resident Members shall be persons residing in the 
State of Alabama. Corresponding Members shall be persons 
in this State or elsewhere, — distinguished by some attainment, 
or facility, in the department of History. Resident Members, 
on removing from this State, and giving notice thereof to the 
Recording Secretary, shall become Corresponding Members. 

4. Members shall be elected as follows : — At any other than 
the annual meeting of the Society, candidates must be pro- 
pounded by a member at some meeting not less than a month 
preceding that at which the election is made. At the annual 
meeting, an election may take place immediately on the nomi- 
nation by a member; — in either case, three black balls, or 
negatives, against a candidate, shall exclude him. 

5. Each Resident Member shall pay, on admission, five dol- 
lars ; and five dollars annually thereafter : or, in lieu thereof, 
a life-membership fee of fifty dollars at one time, as a commu- 
tation for all the regular fees and dues. Should any resident 
member, other than a life-member, fail to pay the annual fee 
for two years successively, or at any time refuse to pay the 
same, the Executive Committee shall have power to erase his 
name from the list of members. The amount of Life-Member- 
ship fees shall be invested in some safe and permanent form ; 
and the annual interest only shall be used. 

6. The officers of the Society are, a President, a first Vice- 
President, a second Vice-President, a Treasurer, a Correspond- 
ing Secretary, a Recording Secretary, and a Librarian. Until 
the business of the Society shall otherwise require, the offices 
of Corresponding and Recording Secretary and Librarian, may 
be filled by one and the same person. These shall be elected 
annually, by ballot ; and shall hold their offices respectively 



for one year, and until the succeeding election. These officers, 
together with five other members, to be appointed annually by 
the President, shall constitute a standing committee, to be 
called "The Executive Committee." 

7. The Society shall hold an annual meeting at the Univer- 
sity of Alabama, on the Monday preceding the annual com- 
mencement, in each and every year hereafter, at which a gen- 
eral election of officers, by ballot, shall take place. In such 
election, a majority of all the ballots given shall constitute a 
choice ; but if, on the first ballot, no person shall receive such 
majority, — then a further balloting shall take place, in which 
a plurality of votes given for any officer shall determine the 
choice. To subserve the general interests of the Society, other 
meetings may be appointed, by resolution of the Society ; — 
and the Executive Committee, by a unanimous vote, shall have 
power also to call special meetings of the Society, — giving 30 
days' notice in some journal published at the place where such 
special meeting is to be held. The Society, at its discretion, 
may authorize any five members residing in a county to organ- 
ize and constitute themselves into a branch association ; which 
may increase its own numbers only by the unanimous vote of the 
members of said branch, sustained and confirmed by the unan- 
imous vote of the Executive Committee of the Society when met 
regularly for business. Members so elected shall pay to the Trea- 
surer of the Society the same fees and dues, and have the same 
responsibilities and privileges in the Society as other members. 
Each branch association shall make report to the Society at its 
annual meeting of all its proceedings during the year previ- 
ous ; and may receive aid from the Treasury of the Society ia 
prosecution of the ends of its organization, when the Society at 
an annual meeting shall deem such appropriation and expen- 
diture to be of sufficient importance. 

8. If a vacancy shall occur in any of the offices of the Soci- 
ety, it may be filled by the Executive Committee ; and the per- 
son so elected to fill a vacancy shall hold his office for the un- 
expired term of his immediate predecessor in office, and until 
the succeeding election. 



9. At the meetings of the Society, the following shall be the 
order of business : 

1. The reading of the minutes of the last meeting. 

2. Reports and communications from oihcers of the Society. 

3. Reports from the Executive and other Committees. 

4. Election of members who may have been previously pro- 
pounded. 

5. Nomination of new members. 

6. (At an annual meeting,) The election of officers. 

7. Miscellaneous business. 

8. Papers read, and addresses delivered before the Society. 

10. The Society may provide, at discretion, for the delivery 
of anniversary or other addresses ; or for instructive exercises 
in public, connected with the department of history. 

11. At all meetings of the Society, ten members shall con- 
stitute a quorum for the transaction of business. 

12. The President, or in his absence, one of the Vice-Pre- 
sidents, or in their absence a chairman -pro tempore, shall pre- 
side at all meetings of the Society; and shall have a casting 
vote. He shall preserve order, and decide all questions of or- 
der, — subject to an appeal to the Society. He shall also ap- 
point all committees authorized by the Society, unless other- 
wise specially ordered. 

13. The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the general 
correspondence of the Society. He shall have the custody of 
all letters and communications to the Society; excepting pa- 
pers read, and addresses delivered before the same, which shall 
be deposited in the Library. At every meeting of the Society, 
he shall read such letters and communications as he may have 
received, since the last meeting ; he shall prepare and trans- 
mit letters in connexion with the ordinary business or objects 
of the Society ; but the Society may appoint a committee to 
prepare a letter, or letters, on any special occasion. He shall 
notify all members of their election, and transmit to them the 
proper certificates of membership. He shall keep, in suitable 
books to be provided for that purpose, true copies of all letters 
written on behalf of the Society ; and shall carefully preserve 
the originals of all letters and communications received. 



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14. The Recording Secretary shall have the custody of the 
seal, charter, by-laws and records of the Society. Under di- 
rection of the President, or either of the Vice-Presidents, he 
shall give due notice of the time and place of all meetings of 
the Society, and attend the same. He shall keep fair and ac- 
curate records of all the proceedings and orders of the Soci- 
ety ; and shall give due notice to the several officers, and to the 
Executive and other Committees, of all votes, orders, resolves 
and proceedings of the Society, aftecting them, or appertaining 
to their respective duties. 

15. The Treasurer shall collect and keep the funds and se- 
curities of the Society. Out of these funds he shall disburse 
such sums as may be ordered by the Society, or Executive Com- 
mittee. ' He shall keep a true account of his receipts and pay- 
ments ; and, at each annual meeting, render the same to tlie 
Society, — when a committee shall be appointed to audit his 
accounts. He shall report to tlie Society, at each annual 
meeting, the naiiies of all Resident Members who have failed 
for two years to pay their dues. 

If, from the annual report of the Treasurer, there shall ap- 
pear to be a balance against the Treasury, no appropriation of 
money shall be made for any object, but the necessar}'- current 
expenses of the Society, until such balance shall be paid. 

16. The Librarian, in connexion with the Executive Com- 
mittee, shall have the charge and superintendence of the rooms, 
and the custody and arrangement of the books, manuscripts, 
and other articles belonging to the Library and collections of 
the Society : He shall cause to be prepared and kept a proper 
catalogue and list of the same : He shall acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of donations to the Society in his department. He shall 
expend in the purchase of books and other articles, and for 
their safe-keeping and preservation, with the approbation of 
said committee, such sums of money as shall from time to time 
be appropriated for that purpose, and report thereon to the 
Society. He shall, once at least in each year, render his ac- 
counts for such purchases and expenditures to the Treasurer 
for settlement ; and shall, further, make to the Society at each 
annual meeting, a full report on the condition and progress of 



the Library and Collections. He shall label every present, and 
record in a substantial book, definitely and intelligibly, the 
name of every donor : — and he shall keep the Library and Col- 
lections open at such periods, stated or occasional, as the So- 
ciety or the Executive Committee may appoint ; being always 
present, himself, or by a duly authorized and competent agent, 
when the room or rooms are thus kept open. 

17. The following shall be the regulations for the use of the 
Library : 

1. No book or manuscript shall, at any time, be lent to any 
person, to be removed from the Society's rooms. 

2. No manuscript in the Library, nor any paper read before 
the Society and deposited in its archives, shall be published^ 
except by the direction of the Society, or with the consent 
of the Executive Committee. 

3. The houi'S, during which the Library shall be open, shall be 
determined from time to time by the Executive Committee. 

4. During such hours, any member or members of the Society 
may have free access to consult any book or manuscript, (ex- 
cept such as may have been designated by the Executive 
Committee) and to make extracts from the same under the 
authority of the Librarian. Any person, not a member, 
may obtain the like privilege of consultation from the Presi- 
dent or Librarian, if known to them, — or upon the recom- 
mendation of some other member to w^hom the applicant is 
known. But no person, not a member, shall be permitted 
to take extracts from the manuscripts of the Society, ex- 
cepting the donors or depositors of the same, without special 
authority from the Executive Committee. 

5. It shall be the duty of the Librarian, or his Assistant, to 
report to the executive committee any injury done to any 
book or manuscript, by any person consulting the same; 
and the said committee may, at discretion, lay such reports 
before the Society. For any such injury, the person doing 
it shall make such pecuniary compensation as the said com- 
mittee shall judge proper ; and, if he be not a member, the 
committee shall have power, if they think fit, to prohibit 
him from further access to the Society's rooms. 



8 

6. If documents, or other articles, in the keeping of the So- 
ciety, are wanted for public purposes of the State of Ala- 
bama, the use of them may be permitted to state officers or 
agents, under such regulations as the executive committee 
may prescribe. 

18. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to solicit 
and receive donations for the Society ; to recommend plans for 
promoting its objects; to digest and prepare business; to au- 
thorize the disbursement of unappropriated moneys in the 
hands of the Treasurer, for the payment of salaries, current 
expenses, fitting up library, the ordinary purchase of books, 
binding, printing, and other necessary out lays. 

In connexion with the Librarian, they shall have charge of 
the arrangement and regulation of the Library and collections ; 
and shall have authority, at any time, to examine into the con- 
dition of the same, and into the state of the finances ; as, also 
generally, to superintend the interests of the Society, and exe- 
cute all such duties as may, from time to time, be committed 
to them by the Society. At each annual meeting of the So- 
ciety, they shall make a general report ; embracing every mat- 
ter which they consider deserving or requiring the attention of 
the Society. They shall have power to hold stated meetings 
under their own regulations ; and, the President, or in his ab- 
sence, one of the Vice Presidents, may call a special or occa- 
sional meeting of the committee by a written notice left at the 
usual place of abode of each member, not less than three days 
before the period fixed for the meeting. If any member of the 
committee, not an officer of the Society, shall be absent from 
its meetings for three successive months, without assigning 
reasons therefor satisfactory to the committee, his place on the 
committee shall be vacated, — which fact shall be reported by 
the committee to the Society ; and the President shall proceed, 
immediately on the occurrence of a vacancy as aforesaid, to 
fill the same by a new appointment. 

19. The executive committee shall provide a case, or cases, 
to be placed and constantly kept in the rooms of the Society, 
for the deposit and safe keeping of all papers and other things 
belonging to the department of each officer of the Society and 



of the executive committee. And all papers and other things, 
belonging to each of these several departments respectively, 
shall be deposited and constantly kept by its proper' officer, in 
the case or cases appropriated for its use, under his special care 
and upon his official responsibility. 

20. All committees of the Society, other than the executive 
committee, shall be composed of three members, unless other- 
wise specially ordered. 

21. No alteration in these rules shall be made, except at an 
annual meeting, and by the concurrence of two thirds of the 
members present at such meeting of the Society. 



The following list of subjects and topics, is herewith subjoined, to dis- 
seminate information of the objects the Society have in view, and to direct 
into suitable channels, the inquiries of those who may be disposed to aid 
the Society in the pursuit of historical knowledge. 

It is the wish of the Society to collect, 

Ante-revolutionary documents of all kinds, relating to any 
of the colonies or colonists; books, pamphlets, &c., on such 
subjects. 

Journals of the Provincial Congress, of the Colonial and 
State Legislatures ; records of the proceedings of conventions 
and committees of safety ; journals of the King's councils ! 
statutes of colonies, territories, and states, at any period of 
their history; treaties with Indian tribes or with any state or 
nation : — all relating to the history and progress of any state. 

Whatever belongs to the Documentary History of the United 
States ; embracing the first movements in resistance to British 
aggression, articles of confederation, constitutions, &c., down 
to the present time. 

WHATEVER RELATES TO THE HISTORY OF ALABAMA. 

The earliest notices of Indian tribes within our borders, their 
manners and customs, their skirmishes and battles ; the ad- 
ventures and sufferings of captives and travellers among 
them, or in the territories they occupied ; the Indian names 
attached to rivers, hills, districts, islands, bays, and all 
other places, with their meanings and the traditions connect- 
ed with them ; together Avith accounts of all monuments, relics, 



10 

mounds, dwellings, implements, memorials, or traditions, con- 
nected with the aborigines; and the articles themselves 
when capable of transmission. 

The Spanish adventurers, De Soto, &c. 

The French settlements, earlier and later — Mobile, Maren- 
go, &c. 

Territorial government, Mississippi territory, Georgia western 
territory. 

Formation of the State — conventions, constitution, &c., &c. 

Legislatures — seats of government, officers, members of the 
general assembly — journals of both houses, laws and acts 
passed. Digests made by public authority, all documents 
'published hy 'puhlic autliority; and memoirs and accounts of 
all public officers. 

History of counties, cities, towns, villages — or remarkable 
settlements, for w^hom named, — including their origin, incor- 
poration, charters, officers, and memorable events or per- 
sons, and all public transactions, maps, surveys, &c. 

Memoirs, correspondence, anecdotes, &c., of any remarkable 
persons, male or female, residing in or passing through the 
State ; or in any way connected with its history :^-together 
with all letters, documents and papers illustrative of public 
or private history. Essays, or other productions, in manu- 
script, — written by, or at the suggestion of, any citizen of 
this State. All works relating to the Literary History of 
the State, its colleges, academies and seminaries, minutes 
and proceedings of scientific and literary associations, ora- 
tions, sermons, addresses, tracts, essays, pamphlets, poems, 
delivered or written on any occasion ; also magazines, alma- 
nacs, reviews, — meteorological journals, and the records of 
any facts or observations tending to promote knowledge or 
advance science. 

A copy or copies of every book published in the State, or by, 
or for, any citizen of the State. 

A file (from the beginning, if possible,) of every newspaper pub- 
lished in the State. 

Every thing relating to the history of the territory or state, or 



11 

of regions, or persons or events in it ; wherever or by whom- 
soever published. 

Reports of boards of health; statistics of uiaiTiages, births, 
deaths, the deaf, dumb and blind; accounts of special epi- 
demics; copies of medical journals; catalogues of medical 
schools ; reports or memoirs prepared by individuals of the 
profession on the iTiedicnl topography of any place within 
the State. 

Manufactories, and other industrial enter23rizes, merchant 
mills, machine shops, mining operations for metals or coal — 
forges, foundries, roads, canals; improvements in rivers, 
bays, &c. Origin and progress of navigation in our waters ; 
especially by steam. 

Papers illustrating the geography, or natural history of any 
place ; — caves, springs, underground currents ; changes of 
surface, or in the channels of rivers and streams, depth of 
harbors and bars ; mineral springs watering places, remark- 
able hotels, or places of resort. Natural curiosities of all 
kinds ; especially those tending to illustrate any point in 
science, or the resources and wealth of the State- 
Census of the State, taken by authority of the General Go- 
vernment or of the State, a.t all the different periods — to- 
gether with every statistical account on any subject; tables 
of export and import, prices current, progress of banks, in- 
surance offices; proceedings of chambers of commerce, re- 
gisters of vessels and steamboats — commerce and tonnage 
of Mobile, and all other places in the State. 

The formation of Agricultural Associations ; accoimts of agri- 
cultural productions — wheat, Indian corn, cotton, tobacco, 
sugar, the grasses, all supplies to men or domestic animals. 

Fisheries, nature and amount. 

Laboring animals — improvement of stock, kc. 

Chartered Institutions — and all associations for benevolence ; 
societies, clubs, &c., for mutual assistance, protection or im- 
provement. 

Militia returns and regulations ; the number, locality and date 
pf incorporation of all volunteer companies; the names of 



field, staff and general officers ; descriptions of all fortifica- 
tions that have been, or now "are in existence; notices of 
battles and battle-fields, curiosities or remains taken from 
them; order-books of Generals, military journals of expedi- 
tions undertaken by our people within or without the limits 
of our territory, in Florida, New-Orleans, Texas, Mexico, 
&c., together with all relics or mementos of these things; — 
invasions of our soil, depredations, skirmishes, alarms, dar- 
ing exploits, feats of prowess or skill in attack, defence, pur- 
suit, or escape. Medals and ancient coins. 
Specimens of skill in any department of the useful or fine arts ; 

and histories or memoirs connected with such. 
Accounts of t^emarlcable crimes, criminals, arrests, trials, exe- 
cutions, escapes. 
Sketches of the introduction of the preaching of the Gospel, 
in particular places, missionary and preaching stations, mis- 
sion schools and farms — origin of particular churches, names 
of officiating clergy in their succession, the sects to which 
they belong, ordinatians, settlement, sphere of labor, ad- 
ventures, sufferings and successes, removals or deaths, of 
ministers who have lived in the State, together with me- 
moirs or biographical notices of their characters and services : 
Proceedings of conventions, conferences, assemblies, synods, 
councils, presbyteries, associations, and religious bodies of 
all kinds, — complete from the beginning, as far as possible. 
The origin and history of Sunday Schools ; and whatever re- 
lates to temperance societies, or the temperance reform. 
The Society will gladly receive and preserve, not only what 
is of local interest — as relating to this State — but whatever 
relates to any part of our whole country — whether book docu- 
ment, manuscript, or natural object. 

They respectfully solicit all such ; and hope that the libe- 
rality and activity of an enlightened people may secure the 
complete success and usefulness of the Alabama Historical 
Society. 

Communications may be made and addressed to the SecrC' 
tary of the Alabama Historical Society, Tuscaloosa. 



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